52 in 52

52: Blog 100 memories ( 11 to 15 – music)

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52 in 52 - memories

11 – First concert (year unknown) When I was younger, at one point I was hanging out with a church group. In all fairness it was because I wanted to join in all their cool social activities – water fights, bowling etc, and most certainly not because I was interested in learning about God. The … Read more

52: Blog 100 memories (6 to 10 – Historical moments)

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52 in 52 - memories

Sadly, this has been inspired by the events of the Sydney siege, of which I’m watching the rolling broadcast on TV as we speak. My thoughts are with the hostages, and I hope it’s a peaceful resolution with no injuries or fatalities. The list below are from those historical moments where you always remember where … Read more

52: Blog 100 memories (1 to 5 – Sports)

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52 in 52 - memories

One of my 52 in 52 items for 2014 was to blog 100 memories. Today’s post focuses on memories with friends. These memories are not in any specific order, other than in which order they came from. 1 – High School swimming carnival I used to dread the school swimming carnival, because it meant one … Read more

52 in 52: Watch all of the James Bond movies

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“52 in 52″ is a list of things that I would like to complete throughout 2014. Click here to the whole list.

 

I’m a huge fan of action movies, and anything that involves espionage and spying. Needless to say James Bond was right up my alley, and I’ve loved watching them since I was a kid (although I had some hatred for Pierce Brosnan that I can’t explain).

Finally this year, I thought it would be fun to watch all of them in the space of a year. Side note – I had planned on watching them in the correct order, but being on a plane and not remembering the order meant that I accidentally watched a couple of them in the wrong order.

As I have been watching them, it’s quite fun to read up on IMDB about the movies and find out some trivia. For example, Live and Let Die has love scenes with a black woman, which were stripped in South Africa due to the government at the time. Reading trivia on movies is a love of mine, although I’m sure it gets annoying for the people around me when I interrupt the movie with a “did you know…”.

Below is a running list of all the movies, and my status on where I’m up to (in the format of Title – Year). Some I have seen before (basically all of them from 1995 onwards) some I will have never seen before. Either way, I can’t wait to see all of them during 2014.

 

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52 in 52: Compete in a triathlon

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“52 in 52″ is a list of things that I would like to complete throughout 2014. Click here to the whole list.

I have been exposed to triathlons from an early age. My dad was a big fan of them, and when I was about 12 I helped volunteer at the world famous Mooloolaba Triathlon. I stood proudly in my oversized volunteers shirt, and pointed the competitors towards the transition. After it was all over, I wandered around the transition in awe of all the chaos. Water bottles everywhere, scattered numbers, and the odd person here and there returning to pick up their gear. At the after party, an older girl (probably early 20's) asked me “when are you going to do one?” I said I didn't know, and she said “make sure you do, you have the build for it”.

Many years later in my mid 20's, I mentioned to a friend that I was interested. She agreed, and as chance would have it she knew someone that competed in triathlons that was also a personal trainer. We started training, and then it all fizzled out.

This year I decided it was the year. I had met Mario, who also competed in triathlons, and my fitness level was at an all time high. It was time to push. I contacted my friend again, she said she was keen, and before we had a chance to change our minds we paid for the entry fee.

I started going for longer bike rides, and swimming more frequently. I did more boot camp classes. I didn't run enough, which I would pay for later, but I was training. I was scared. I knew I could make the distances, but I didn't know how fast. I wanted to do well. Really well.

When the day arrived, I had managed to sleep relatively well the night before. We had been down and checked in early the day prior, leaving our bikes in the transition area. I had set up my shoes with the cool new spring laces, and also laid out my clothes in preparation.

I was as ready as I was ever going to be.

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